2 people added to our chain - anything I can do?

seabright

Mr.Brown wrote: »

No. But you can wonder why it takes some pen pushers in council and solicitors to take more than five minutes to do the searches and legal work. Instead it takes weeks. Why?

Because doing the searches and interpreting the results, checking the title and trying to repair any problems with it, checking the mortgage, negotiating the terms of the contract and the transfer and putting all of these pieces of information together and reviewing them as a whole, then reporting to the client and the mortgagee and explaining anything they don't understand is actually slightly more difficult than you seem to think!

Sorry, but it's a complex job and takes more than 5 minutes, if you want it done properly. Or would you be happy for someone to take 5 minutes over it, make lots of mistakes, let you buy a faulty title and then be prepared not to sue over it, because it was better to get a really cheap rush-job done by an unqualified conveyancer than pay for someone with years of training to put the time and make sure you get the property you are paying for?

Grr! Rant over! :rotfl:

seabright

delmar39 wrote: »

I should have added to this that when we were going to advertise our house as chain free (because we're going to a new build) the EA advised us against this just in case circumstances change i.e. we decide to move somewhere else. The EA could be done for false advertising. So check whether or not it was advertised as chain free. If it was then this puts their EA in dodgy position, but not the EAs fault unless they're aware of it....

In my opinion, there is always a chain. Even if you are a FTB and you are buying a repossed house, it's a chain of 2. Chain-free is a bit meaningless, I think.

frafferty

No, it wasn't advertised as chain free but everyone involved knew we wanted a speedy move so we have all been working hard to get things done as fast as possible. Now we have got 2 new people in the chain who are starting from square one so all the rushing so far has been in vain! It's infuriating as we specifically sought out a property with a short chain - we could have offered on a house that we liked more but we didn't because it had a longer chain.
Ah well, lesson learned I guess!

Richard_Webster

Anyway in this case OP seems to be the FTB at the bottom so it is what his seller told him.

Unless OP grilled his seller and said "You will make sure that your seller doesn't change his mind and buy something, won't you?" the seller probably didn't see it as such a big deal.

Also unfortunately some estate agents ask sellers if they would move out and go into rented if they can't find anything to buy. Seller says something like "Well, we haven't really thought about it, but I suppose we might be able to stay with my mum and dad for a few weeks if it really came to it." Note the qualifications!!! Estate agent doesn't hear any of these and tells buyer that sellers are definitely going into rented.

In this case OP is below the buyer/estate agent who would have been told that and the information is second hand and very liable to the "Chinese Whispers" syndrome.

I routinely tell buyer clients in any length of chain not to rely on this kind of information because it happens all the time.

The Land Registry were trying to trail a "chain matrix" system where details of chains could be recorded on a website so that everyone could see what was happening - quite difficult in practice - and they have given it up at the moment unfortunately. However I think it would have been a lot more use than HIPs in speeding up conveyancing in England/Wales - but the government doesn't listen to those like the Land Registry who actually understand how conveyancing works.

frafferty

No, not FTB. Ours was the middle house in a chain of 3. We accepted a silly low offer on this place because we need to move fast. The people who we are buying from were buying from a couple who were moving into rented. We grilled the seller quite hard as the quick move was essential to us and we were happy with the info provided. Now it seems that those people have decided to buy instead of rent and so 2 new links have been created. I know for a fact that our sellers are not best pleased either as they too were up for a speedy move having previously had their chain collapse twice.
Unfortunately we are not in a position to offer more money to get someone to move into rented because we took that low offer on ours so are quite tied now cash wise

Richard_Webster

But it is still not OP's seller who was "moving into rented..." - that's where the Chinese whispers comes in, I' m afraid. It is so annoying. OP's seller perhaps didn't insist strongly enough with their sellers that they shouldn't change their minds.

It doesn't become legally binding but if the people at what what was the top of the chain are sat down by their buyers (not by the agents) and asked (a) whether they are actively seeking a property to purchase, and if so, (b) if that isn't found or not found quickly enough, whether they actually can and will go into rented or stay with family. (In some cases people say that and when they realise that the delay is only going to be say 1-2 months) they find that no landlord is going to want to rent to them for that short a period - better they find that out as soon as possible.)

If they have actually thought through the issues and say they will rent or stay with family they are less likely to change their minds than if it was something they vaguely mentioned as a possibility to the estate agents. If they say they won't then you know from t he start that there is a potential problem with the chain and you might decide to walk away.

The problem always is once it is one or more links away from you, you do not have any control and don't know what has and hasn't been said/thought by the people involved.

I've had some very cross clients who have never wanted to move out and always intended to buy another property but the estate agents told their buyers that they would move out, and so, particularly in a buyer's market, I have had seller clients reluctantly complying even though it was never their intention.

GDB2222

So, the main thing keeping you in this chain, frafferty, is the money spent on a survey. Surely, you ought to have a look around and see what else is on the market?

When you say you've accepted a stupidly low offer, how stupidly low do you mean? A few % below full value or loads of % below?

frafferty

Nothing else suitable atm GDB2222.

Stuipdly low as in around 9% lower but we are talking relatively small amounts anyway (as in my house is tiny and in a rubbish area so not worth zillions in the first place). We would have got a higher offer if we had waited as there we had viewings coming out of our ears. 5 on the first day that it was on the market and 25 others lined up for the following week. We took the low offer as it suited us with the small chain and the speed at which the others wanted to progress. Also, I didn't much fancy entertaining another 25+ viewers. It's hard work keeping a house tidy when you have 2 children under 4 at home! The last house that sold in this road sold just before Christmas for 15% more than the offer we accepted so I'm sure we would have got asking if we had held out.

We don't have a lot of spare money, we are moving because we have no choice so to lose £295 on a survey is a big deal for us. We can't just walk away because we don't like the length of the chain, it would have to be something more substantial than that to cause us to voluntarily lose our survey money. Our sellers didn't lie - their sellers genuinely were moving into rented as they were moving aaway and were going to rent for a while to get a feel for their new area. They have obviously changed their mind but I don't have to like it do I? :rotfl:

So I guess what I need to know now is how much these 2 new additions could possibly hold the chain up? I know that is a 'how long is a piece of string' question really but roughly? We had been told before this that we were looking at an exchange date of around Easter time. If the 2 new additions have yet to sort mortgages etc how much will that set us back by? Are we looking at June...or later....?

I'm allowed to be frustrated, aren't I?

Fire_Fox

Why don't you sell and move into rented if you need to move fast?

frafferty

We don't have the money to do that Fire Fox.